Is the Disney Dining Plan worth the cost? Our Family's Experience!
Vacationing at Walt Disney World is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many families, and even for Disney-pros, the logistics of planning your Disney Vacation can sometimes be overwhelming and leave you asking several questions.
When should we go? Should we buy park hopper or traditional tickets? And of course, the ever-famous, Should we buy the Disney Dining Plan or just pay as we go?
My wife and I have visited Walt Disney World several times, with the children and on adult trips alike, and have experienced Disney life both with, and without, the Disney Dining Plan. The following is a breakdown of our last trip to Walt Disney World in early 2017.
Disney Dining Plan Basics
Before I delve into the numbers, I want to take a minute (so sit right there) to go over the fundamentals of the Disney Dining Plan.
The Disney Dining Plan is a pre-paid service offered by Disney (and your go-to travel services) that enables vacationers to pre-pay for their meals in the parks and numerous Disney Springs eateries. While having the dining plan is not a requirement, it does enable you to make restaurant dining reservations as early as 180 days in advance to your trip without the use of a credit card to hold the reservation and is accepted at most casual and sit-down restaurants on Disney properties.
Disney offers three Dining Plan options, which are:
- Disney Quick Service Dining Plan
- 2 Quick-Service Meals
- 2 Snacks
- Disney Dining Plan
- 1 Quick-Service Meal
- 1 Table-Service Meal
- 2 Snacks
- Disney Deluxe Dining Plan
- 3 Meals (Quick-Service or Table-Service, also the only plan that lets you interchange these credits)
- 2 Snacks
All Quick-Service meals include 1 Entree and 1 non-alcoholic drink*, while Table-Service meals include 1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, and 1 non-alcoholic drink*.
*The 2018 plans DO include 1 alcoholic drink for guests 21 and older, in lieu of a non-alcoholic drink*
With a few exceptions (more on that later) most restaurants only require 1 meal credit per person, and you can use your credits as you please. For example, we are not a fan of the Table-Service dining options in Magic Kingdom, and will typically opt to use Quick-Service credits while at that park, saving a Table-Service credit for a better restaurant at another park.
All dining plans include a refillable mug that can be refilled for free at your Disney resort as well (meaning that you can bank a bottled drink for the park if you opt to eat at the Resorts)!
As of this publication, the regular Disney Dining Plan pricing is as follows:
2017 Plan
- Per Adult Per Night: $69.35
- Per Child (3-9) Per night: $24.95
2018 Plan
- Per Adult Per Night: $75.49
- Per Child (3-9) Per night: $25.75
Finally, gratuities are not included in the dining plan. So plan to tip 15% per total cost of your bill, just as you would if paying out of pocket.
Our 2017 Trip's Budget
At the time of this trip, our family of five had two adults, one tween, one child, and one infant (Robin was just under 1 year old).
For our five-day trip (we didn't plan on using the dining plan for our first day), we were quoted a total of $1165, keeping in mind that Billy was too old to be considered for the child's plan, and Robin was free. While we would have opted for the regular Dining Plan, for reference, the Quick-Service Dining Plan would have totaled $827.25, and the Deluxe Dining Plan $1793.95.
It was actually because of the fact that Robin was so young, and that we wanted to keep to her schedule as much as possible, that we decided to go without the dining plan this trip and chart our findings. We set aside $1200 to see how we would fair.
Now that the logistics are out of the way, let's take a look back at our 2017 Walt Disney World Vacation Dining Experiment.
Day 1 Total Spent - $139.85
Because Robin was still so young, we decided to drive to Walt Disney World this year instead of flying. We didn't want to subject her to an airplane at such a young age and wanted the flexibility of having a car available to us if we needed it.
We arrived at Disney's Pop Century Resort just after check-in and quickly headed to our rooms to unpack.
After getting settled we decided to head to Wal-Mart to pick up some provisions. Bottled water and soft drinks, pre-packaged snacks, breakfast bars, and granola bars. Even with the Disney Dining plan, eating in Disney is EXPENSIVE and you never know when a pack of gummies may mean the difference between another couple of hours in the park and a full-on toddler-melt-down.
Total Spent: $90.35
From there we hit Disney Springs to check out the light show and the settled upon Wolfgang Puck Express. A couple of pizzas, two kid's chicken strip dinners (pro tip, if your kid is small enough they usually won't ask their age) and soft drinks for the table set us back just under $50.
Total Spent: $49.50
Day 2 Total Spent - $142.13
Our first full day at the parks got off to an early start at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We all filled up on protein bars and other light breakfast foods from our Walmart excursion and headed to the park.
That afternoon we booked lunch reservations at Sanaa in Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We did opt for the Naan bread appetizer, Jennifer and I each had an entree, Billy (our 13-year-old) opted for an appetizer plate, and Leia ordered off of the kid's menu. This actually may have been my favorite meal of the trip. After tip, and with our Disney Visa cardholder discount, or order came up to just over $100. Leia's kid's meal did include a dessert, and she absolutely adored the "make your own cookie" plate.
Total Spent: $105.43
With our bellies full, we headed out to Disney's Magic Kingdom for the evening and opted to head home before the parks got too busy for the fireworks show. After heading back to the resort, we all had a bit of a sweet tooth hit us and decided to opt for ice cream from the Everything Pop cafe. I can't say enough about the "Everything Pop" Sunday... yes.. those are gummy worms and pop tarts...
Total Spent: $36.70
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Day 3 Total Spent - $120.44
Our third day in the parks had us starting off at Disney's Hollywood Studios. This is a half-day park at best, but we wanted to stick around to let Leia and Billy get into the Jedi Training Academy. Leia was appropriately dressed.
It was the day before New Year's Eve and a bit chilly. The only restaurant nearby with available reservations was Disney's Prime Time Cafe. Jennifer and I have avoided this particular restaurant in the past, but having been there, I'm really glad that we tried them out, and their stuffed pork chop will be on my "must have" list for all future Disney trips. Jennifer and I each ordered an entree, sharing a little with Robin, while Billy and Leia each ordered from the kid's menu. Because this was a Table-Service restaurant we did leave a $20% tip.
Total Spent: $90.44
The parks were getting crowded as the evening hours approached us, so we decided to head back to the hotel and make an order for pizza from Papa John's. We timed it just right so that they were pulling up almost just after our bus dropped us off.
Total Spent: $30
Day 4 Total Spent - $100.55
New Year's Eve... what were we thinking? We went into this day with two goals: to get a photo of Billy, Leia, and Robin with Alice, because "Alice in Wonderland" was Robin's first favorite book, and to get a good spot for the New Year's Eve fireworks. Due to a rouge lightsaber and a shattered iPhone, we only succeeded in one of those two goals.
After meeting Alice, we stopped at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop Quick-Service restaurant next to Alice's photo station for three orders of fish and chips and three soft drinks.
Total Cost: $53.76
As I mentioned, my wife's iPhone was destroyed and, being on call, she needed access to her client's files in case anything came up. We had to leave the park and get a replacement ASAP. No easy feat on New Year's Eve, much less on the day in which the entire Southern Hemisphere decides to try and get into the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks display.
We opted to eat at Everything Pop again, grabbing a couple of hot sandwiches for Jennifer and I, and pizza for the kids.
Total Cost: $46.79
Day 5 Total Spent - $312.61
To make things up to the kids, we found a last minute, early-morning breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom. It was perfect really, we could get into the park early while the crowds slept off their New Year's Eve celebration. We actually got more done before 2pm this day than any other day in the park.
I will flat out say, that Be Our Guest, in my opinion, is the best value out of any of Disney's Quick-Service restaurants. Hands down! Since we had a rather big lunch reservation already, Jennifer and I opted to share the smoked meats and cheese platter, while the kids each ordered their own breakfasts and shared in the basket of pastries given to the table.
Total Cost: $59.28
As I mentioned earlier, we had a rather extravagant lunch planned for the day. Since our last trip, when Leia was only 3, we had promised her that we would embellish her in her dream to dine with the princesses. Unfortunately, we were not able to book Cinderella's Royal Table. We did manage to get a lunch-time seat at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot. Oh Akershus...
Let me just say this. This is what you're paying for when you book a meal here:
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If you are expecting anything other than smiles on a little girl's face, you're going to have some pretty unpleasant sticker shock. Billy had to order off of the adult menu, which, I actually found very sophisticated and delicious... as an adult. Rather than having some items that a tween might enjoy, we paid $75 for Billy to poke and prod at this...
Leia also managed to get much more attention from Princesses in other parts of the park... simply for standing in line.
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Total Cost: $ 253.33
Day 6 Total Spent - $149.77
Our final day at Walt Disney World was spent between several parks. The New Year's Eve crowd was starting to dissipate and we wanted to scratch a few specific things off of our "to-do" list for this last day.
One of Jennifer's favorite parts of Walt Disney World is Beaches & Cream Soda Shop at the Yacht & Beachclub Resort near Hollywood Studios. We had lunch of burgers for the family (and a fantastic Reuben for me), but the real reason for our visit was the No Way Jose! If there is one thing my wife looks forward to, each trip, it's the No Way Jose! We ordered two for the table to share.
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Total Cost: $86.00 - worth every penny
With the hours and minutes ticking away our final food purchases at Walt Disney World included a handful of baked goods from Main Street Confectionary and turkey legs from Magic Kingdom's ever-famous Frontier Land Turkey Leg Cart.
Total Cost: $63.77
Thoughts and Comparison
Now that all of that is out, there are a few things to take into consideration. We spent a total of $965.35 during our six total days at Walt Disney World, $90.35 of which was spent on breakfast foods and snacks that ultimately saved us from having to eat at the parks.
Based on our dining habits, I believe that the Regular Dining Plan would have been the best choice of the three options available since we ate at a mix of Table and Quick-service restaurants, eliminating the Quick-Service Dining Plan as an option to suit our family, while the Deluxe Dining Plan would have been overkill for this trip's particular dining habits.
The cost of the Regular Dining Plan was $1165
The cost of our À la carte dining was $965.35
Our total savings boiled down to $199.65, which in one way is a significant savings when budgeting for what is always an expensive vacation.
Another way to look at this though is that we only saved a total of $9.98 per person, per day, $39.92 per day, by opting to dine À la carte.
This included often times sharing meals between Jennifer and I or the kids, opting for cheaper options as opposed to the entrees that we really wanted, and required that we supplement snacks and breakfasts with pre-packaged foods purchased at Wal-Mart. Had we flown instead of driven, that Wal-Mart trip may have been more-expensive when factoring in the cost of an Uber or grocery-delivery service.
So is the Dining Plan Worth It?
That is the question, isn't it?
While we did save money, we sacrificed time and lost out on some of the extra perks of the dining plan, including the refillable resort mugs, the appetizers, desserts, and ultimate wider-range of entree selections by choosing to dine À la carte.
Having the Dining plan may have made the sticker-shock of Akershus more palatable, while also maybe encouraging us to try some of the other character dining options.
At the end of the day, I don't regret our decision. Robin was still young, and fussy, and some of our dining reservations had to be canceled to accommodate her schedule (and our sanity).
What we learned from this trip, and what I hope that you've learned from our experience, is that you can eat À la carte at Disney for the same amount of money, or less, than two of the dining plans.
If your particular situation requires that you have some flexibility, or if you want to try for yourself, I suggest that you give it a go, but plan to set aside approximately $70 per meal for a family of four for most Quick-Service restaurants and $120 for Table-Service restaurants.
As for the Osters, I believe that our next trip Disney-side will include the dining plan.
Now it's time to say goodbye... for now...
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See ya' real soon![/caption]
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